Nick Bolton will have surgery, miss much of the season

On Sunday, the Kansas City Chiefs’ defense lost one of its significant contributors: starting MIKE linebacker Nick Bolton was injured during the fourth quarter of the team’s 31-17 victory over the Los Angeles Chargers.

After tackling Chargers’ wide receiver Keenan Allen following a 2-yard gain, Bolton was in obvious pain from an injury to his left wrist. After the game, Chiefs’ head coach Andy said the linebacker had dislocated his wrist.

But on Monday, NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero had more details — and the news wasn’t good.

According to Pelissero’s source, the 23-year-old linebacker will miss at least two months after undergoing surgery on his wrist — which would include Kansas City’s games at the Denver Broncos, against the Miami Dolphins and the Philadelphia Eagles, at the Las Vegas Raiders and Green Bay Packers, against the Buffalo Bills at the New England Patriots.

On Monday, Reid said that the team is working on handling Bolton’s absence. It’s a good bet that the Chiefs will place him on their Reserve/Injured (injured reserve) list — and that Drue Trandquill will once against cover most (if not all) of Bolton’s snaps.

Earlier this season, the team got a good look at the former Chargers linebacker when Bolton missed three weeks with an ankle injury. We can also guess that linebacker Isaiah Moore will be brought up from the practice squad — and that Jack Cochrane will get more snaps with the defense.